JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Residential water information management

Jacobs, H. E. (2008-12)

The original publication is available at http://www.sajim.co.za/

Article

The hitherto undefined term 'water information management' (WIM) as it relates to residential water use is
defined in this article as follows: 'To better manage the information pertaining to how and when water is used
at home.' Effective WDM is based on effective WIM. This article underlines the importance of managing
information, obtained from data, to manage water use.
A review of residential water use, with a specific focus on end-uses of demand and information pertaining to it,
is presented. Two types of data flow pertaining to water use at residential properties are identified. Type 1
information describes the monthly water use at a residential property recorded in the LA's financial billing
system, while Type 2 information describes end-uses on a particular property. End-use models of water
demand require Type 2 data as input, are renowned to be data hungry and are often arduous to populate.
A method for populating the model parameters with a Web-based tool is also addressed. Success at gaining
parameter values for end-use modelling via Web-based tools has been somewhat limited to date, but it is hoped
that future improvements in simplifying the input requirement would lead to practical application. A former
pilot study in CCT tested the capturing of input data, but did not extend beyond this somewhat limited
functionality. Work is currently progressing on the international front to a point of practical application. It is
hoped that application locally would soon follow suit.
In addition to LAs and their demand management consultants gaining access to valuable end-use information
with a Web-based tool, application of such a tool at household level would serve as a means for user education
– home owners would learn more about their own water use, identify the most significant end-uses at home
and be empowered to save water more effectively by focusing water saving efforts at 'the right' end-uses. In
addition, the tool would provide valuable data inputs for research into end-use modelling of water use.